Communities around Volcanoes National Park trained to stop rabies

About 400 community members, officials, and local leaders in the four districts that border Volcanoes National Park have had training aimed at stopping rabies and other diseases that pass between animals and people. IUCN reported on October 12, 2026, that the sessions ran from September 21 to 26 in Musanze, Burera, Nyabihu, and Rubavu. The wider campaign, from September 21 to October 2, brought together IUCN, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board, and the Rwanda Development Board.

On World Rabies Day, September 28, a public launch at the Bisate Centre in Kinigi offered free dog registration and rabies vaccination, and some dogs were spayed or neutered. Trainers said that after a bite, people should wash the wound for 15 minutes under running water and finish the vaccine course, and that a biting dog should be watched rather than killed on the spot. One aim is to keep dogs out of the park so they do not reach mountain gorillas. In Kinyarwanda, the One Health approach is called Ubuzima Bukomatanyije. The Rwanda Biomedical Centre counted 3,227 people bitten by dogs in Rwanda in 2025, including 216 in Musanze. Those figures describe the risk the campaign is trying to shrink. They are not a result of this month's vaccinations.